An early look at the GOP's response to the president's plan to use more executive actions to bypass Congress was met by this blunt statement from Boehner, R-Ohio, over breakfast with network anchors and correspondents this morning .

The speaker said the president ignores the Congress and Constitution at his own political peril if he hopes to go it alone.

"If he tries to ignore this, he's going to run into a brick wall," Boehner said. "We have a Constitution. We're not going to sit here and let the president trample all over us."

"If the president is serious about a year of action, he should reach out and work with us," the speaker said.

Boehner said his relationship with Obama is just fine. It will be tested, of course, on the debt ceiling in the coming weeks. As for health care, Boehner said the new law will "crash on its own," a sign that Republicans won't keep trying to repeal it.

The terse talk in the speaker's conference room included this ray of optimism: "Just because we have divided government, doesn't mean it has to be dysfunctional."

On immigration reform, Boehner said this is the year to do it. He will determine a way forward later this week at a House GOP retreat.